Route 28 traffic plan still in flux

Saturday

CHATHAM – Discussions continue regarding whether and how to ease traffic at the busy intersection where Route 28 meets Crowell, Queen Anne and Depot roads at the edge of downtown.

No decisions were made at Tuesday’s selectmen’s meeting, but some board members were frustrated after learning that the staking of the intersection – apparently marking the state’s official rights of way around its perimeter – will turn out to be money wasted.

Selectmen in August endorsed Option 3, a road widening and left-turn lanes plan, over two other choices – a roundabout, called Option 2, and leaving the intersection as it is, Option 1.

Some residents in recent weeks were confused about the decision and wanted the roundabout option put back on the table. The board on Oct. 24 reopened public comment on all three options, but meanwhile the staking of the intersection was started by consultant Howard Stein Hudson.

The staking did not follow the selectmen’s Option 3 directive, and cost the town about $1,800. Police Chief Mark Pawlina explained that he put a stop to the staking when he learned it was not being done in accordance with Option 3; if the consultant had finished the job the cost would have been more than $5,000.

Love questioned if it was the DPW director who led the consultant to make the mistake. “We do have local companies that could do this,” she said. “I’m not sure why we went off-Cape, it cost us $1,800 and we didn’t get what we wanted done.”

Talk among the board continued on whether to go forward with staking the intersection under the Option 3 scenario or wait until the Nov. 14 meeting to continue discussing all three options.

“To spend $5,000 now to find out whether this is going to work I think is money well spent,” resident Elaine Gibbs said at Tuesday’s meeting. “In terms of delaying the staking too long, it’s going to be snowing … I would like to see it staked.”

Resident Steve Buckley argued that the process doesn’t have to be so narrow. “When I grew up you could either buy a car or a truck. But now we have SUVs, which are kind of like a car, kind of like a truck. So the idea is whatever visualizations you do come up with, you can take elements and customize to what we want, not what’s being served to us.”

“[Option 3] is a signalization concept, it’s not a finished plan and I think it can be scaled back,” said Selectman Dean Nicastro. “I think we have ample time to go through this process and come out with whatever it is to be the finest plan for this intersection.”

Metters indicated that Option 1, to “do nothing,” only means that the state will most likely move forth with a design of its choosing.

“I’d rather [see the town have] input on what happens to the intersection,” he said.

The board will take up the issue again at its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14.